Handle for burial-caskets, coffins, and the like.



PATENTED APR. '24, 1906.

APPLICATION FILED JULY22,1905.

F/QZ.

WU: mom

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BLESCH, OF NEIVPORT, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO THE CRANE &

BREED MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A COR-PO- RATION OFOHIO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedApril 24, 1906.

Application filed July 22,1905. Serial No. 270,823.

To It whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES BLESOH, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Newport, in the county of Camp bell and Stateof Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inHandles for Burial-Caskets, Coffins, and the Like, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in handles such as areespecially adapted for use on caskets, coffins, and the like, and hasfor its object to provide a handle of this general character of asimple, light, and inexpensive nature, having reinforcing means of animproved and simplified construction by reason of which the strength ofthe handle is greatly increased for obviating accidental breakage, theconstruction and arrangement of the several parts of the improved handlebeing such that the increased strength is attained without making thehandle clumsy or unsightly in proportion and without unnecessaryincrease in cost of manufacture.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction,combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved casketor coffin handle, whereby cer tain important advantages are attained,and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adaptedand more convenient for use than various other forms of handleheretofore devised, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention,Figure 1 is a face view of a casket or coffin handle embodying myimprovements, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken vertically andcentrally through the handle, as shown in Fig. 1, and showing the deviceattached to the side wall of a casket or coffin in position for use.Fig. 3 is a partial front elevation of the lug or escutchcon-plate,drawn to an enlarged scale, the cap and ring member being omitted. Fig.4c is an under side view of the cap,which is fitted on the lug orescutcheomplate outside of the pivotal part of the ring member. Fig. 5is a perspective view showing the hardmetal reinforce of theescutcheon-plate detached. Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view takenvertically through the lug or escutcheon-plate and showing the means forholding the cap in position thereon. Fig. 7 is a view of the ring memberdetached from the lug or escutcheon-plate, said ring member being incircular form, and Fig. 8 is a view of the ring member detached from thelug or escutcheon-plate, but shown in stirrup or semicircular form.

In the views, 1 indicates as a whole the body portion of theescutcheon-plate, which is provided above and below its central partwith openings for the passage of screws 2, by means of which the deviceis adapted to be attached to the side of a casket or coffin, the wall ofthe casket or coffin being indicated by ain Fig. 2. The body portion ofthe plate 1 will be formed from soft metal to permit of being readilycast in any desired form and of being afterward plated so as to permitan ornamental and finished appearance, and for the sake of lightness therear part of plate 1 is cored or hollowed out in casting, as indicatedat 3 in the drawings. I

At the openings through which the screws 2 are passed the rear face ofthe plate 1 is provided with bosses 4, through which the openings areextended and which are designed to fit flush on the side of the casketor coffin to prevent crushing of the soft-metal plate when the screwsare turned.

The central portion of the plate 1 is provided with an integraloutwardly-extended and thickened lug or hearing portion 5, the outersurface of which is provided with a transverse semicircular groove orhalf-bearing 6 and is also provided above and below said half-bearingwith transversely-extended projections 7 7, adapted to conform to andlit flush upon correspondingly formed surfaces at the top and bottom ofthe rear face of the cap 8, which, as will be hereinafter ex: plained,is securely held to the outer end of the lug or bearing portion and hasa central transverse half-bearing 9, corresponding with the half-bearing6 in said lug or bearing portion 5, and in the bearing thus producedbetween the portion 5 and cap 8 by the sur faces 6 and 9 is held thepivotal portion 10 of the ring member 11, which latter is of eithercircular or stirrup form, Figs. 7 and 8, respectively, and of a sizeadapted to permit of being conveniently grasped by the hand for liftingand bearing the casket or coffin.

As herein shown, the ring member (when made circular) is hexagonal incross-section; but .this conformation is of course immaterial to myinvention, and said ring member is produced by casting from soft metalsuch as is capable of being readily plated and has embedded within it anannulus or ring 10, of hard metalsuch as steel, for example which isextended around the ring member and forms a core or reinforce forimparting the desired strength thereto. The stirrupshaped ring memberseen in Fig. 8 has a like hard-metal embedded reinforce 10 extendingaround it to form a strengthening-core. At the bearing portion of thering member the soft-metal covering is cored out or cut away, so as toleave the hard-metal core or reinforce 10 exposed at that point, asindicated at Figs. 7 and 8, and said core or reinforce is of a diameteror cross-section to fit and turn snugly within the bearing between lug 5and cap 8, so as to serve for the pivotal attachment of the ring memberto the escutcheonplate. The cut-away part of the ring member is soproportioned that the ends of the cast-metal covering fit closelyadjacent to the opposite sides of lug 5, as indicated in Fig. 1. Thecore or reinforce 10 may be in the form of an unbroken ring or forsimplicity in manufacture may be produced from steel-wire bent inrounded form with its ends adjacent, but unconnected.

In the escutcheon-plate 1 within and beneath the lu or bearing portion 5is embedded a hard-meta reinforce 12 of the form seen in Figs. 2- and 5,and this reinforce may be produced from sheet-steel or the like and hasa straight rear edge surface 13, adapted for flush engagement upon theside wall x of the casket or coffin, the upper and lower parts of thereinforce having twisted projections 14 14, perforated for the passageof the screws 2 2, by means of which the handle is attached to thecasket or coffin and embedded in the bosses 4 above referred to. Thecentral body portion of the reinforce 12 is arranged to extend at rightangles from the wall of the casket or coffin when the handle is inposition, and the perforated projections 14 are twisted or bent, so asto stand at right angles to the plane in which said central portionextends in order that the screws 2 may be passed through theperforations of said projections.

The projecting central portion of the escutcheon-reinforce 12 isextended out and embedded within the lug or bearing portion 5 and is ofsuch a length that its outer extremity projects beyond the front face ofsaid lug or bearing portion, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and is adaptedto fit within a vertically-extended kerf or channel 15, centrallyproduced in cap 8 in position to receive said projecting end of thereinforce. The outer extremity of the said reinforce 12 is also providedwith an upwardly and r'earwardly directed slot or opening 16, the upperrear end of which coincides with the half-bearing 6 of the lug 5 and isadapted to receive the exposed pivotal portion 10 of the reinforce ofthe ring member of the handle, the upper part 17 of the projectingextremity of the re inforce being caused to overhang or extend down infront of said part 10 after the fash ion of. a hook when the ring memberis connected with the escutcheon-plate.

For the attachment of the cap 8 to the lug or bearing portion 5 of thehandle I provide screws 18, which are passed through openings 19 atopposite sides of the lug or bearing portion 5, their heads being uponthe recessed rear face of the escutcheon-plate, their threadedextremities being engaged in openings 20, produced in the rear face ofthe cap, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6. These screws form an effectiveattachment for holding the cap to the bearing portion 5 and are notexposed upon the face of the device.

In assembling the parts of the handlethe exposed pivotal portion 10 ofthe reinforce of the ring member is first engaged within the slottedopening 16 at the projecting extremity of the escutcheon-reinforce 12.The lateral parts of said exposed portion 10 thereupon rest in thehalf-bearing 6. The cap 8 is then applied over the exposed part 10 ofthe reinforce of the ring member, its half-bearing 9 fitting on thelateral parts of the exposed portion 10, its central kerf or channel 15receiving the projecting extremity of the escutcheon-reinforce. Thescrews 18 are then applied from the under side of the escutcheonplateand serve to hold the parts securely in relation.

In the use of the improved handle when applied to a casket or cofiin itwill be seen that as ring member is grasped by the hand and raised, aswill be done in lifting and bearing the casket or coffin, the strainthereby exerted on the parts will be transmitted from the exposedreinforce portion 10 of the ring member to the overhanging hook-likepart 17 of the escutcheon-reinforce and will be thence transmitteddirect to the casket or cofiin by way of the screws and also of thecentral engaging surface of the esoutcheonreinforce, which is, as abovestated, engaged flush upon the casket or coflin wall. In this .way itwill be seen that no appreciable strain is imposed upon the softcast-metal portion of the device, and any crushing or breakage of theparts is thereby obviated.

The improved handle constructed as above described is of an extremelysimple and inexpensive nature and is possessed of'sufficient strength torender it well adapted for use without liability of breakage. Thereinforcing means are also of such a nature as to permit the handle tobe manufactured by means of a comparatively simple arrangement of molds,so that a very considerable economy in manufacture results. g

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A handle for casketsor coffins and the like comprising an escutcheon-plate of soft castmetal having an embedded hardmetal reinforce the vertical rear centralportion or edge of which is adapted for resting contact or engagement onthe casket or coffin wall and the opposite ends of which are extended atright angles thereto and provided with perforations adapted for thepassage of attaching means, said reinforce having a bifur catedforwardly-extended portion and a member pivotally held to theescutcheonplate and having engagement with the bifurcatedforwardly-extended portion of the escutcheon-reinforce.

2. A handle for caskets or coffins and the like comprising anescutcheon-plate of soft cast metal having an embedded hard-metalreinforce the rear vertical edge of which is adapted for engagement on acasket or coffin wall, said escutcheon-plate having an integralforwaidly-extended lug or bearing portion in which theforwardly-extended portion of the reinforce is embedded and a pivotalmember having a pivot-pin engaged with the lug of the escutcheon-plate,the forwardly-extended portion of the escutcheonreinforce having adownwardly-directed hooklike part engaged over said pivotpin.

3. A handle for caskets or coffins and the like comprising anescutcheon-plate of soft cast metal having an embedded hard-metalreinforce the rear part of which is adapted for engagement on a casketor coffin wall,

said reinforce having a forwardly-extended portion and theescutcheon-platc having a forwardly-extended lug in which the extendedportion of the reinforce is embedded and from which said reinforceprojects at its forward extremity, a cap held to the lug of theescutcheon-plate and extended over the projecting extremity of saidreinforce and a piv otal member having a pivot-pin held between said capand the lug of the cscutcheonplate and engaged with the projectingextremity of the escutcheon reinforce.

4. A handle for caskets or coffins and the like comprising anescutcheon-plate of soft cast metal having an embedded hard-metalreinforce the roar part of which is adapted for engagement on a casketor coffin wall, said reinforce having a forwardly-directed portionprovided with a downwardly-extcnded hook-like part at its extremity andthe escutcheon-platc having a forwardly-extended lug in which theextended portion of the reinforce is embedded and from which thehooklike forward extremity of said reinforce projects, a cap applied tothe lug of the escutcheon-plate outside of and extended over saidhook-like part of the escutcheon-rcinforce, screws passed through theescutchconplate into the cap for holding the cap in position and apivotal part having a pivot-pin held between said cap and the lug of theescutcheon-plate and engaged beneath the hook-like extremity of theescutcheon-reinforcc.

Signed at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 18th day of July, 1905.

CHARLES BLESCH. Vitnesses:

M. I. PARRY, JOHN ELIAS Jones.

